


Summer moon, catch your shut eye

by teskodanceparty



Category: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always the Opposite Sex, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, F/M, Gen, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-08
Updated: 2012-02-08
Packaged: 2017-10-30 20:09:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/335586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teskodanceparty/pseuds/teskodanceparty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stephanie tries not to think about before the serum too often, pushes harder instead and doesn't realize where she's headed until she's gasping for breath in the middle of Times Square again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Summer moon, catch your shut eye

She likes to run, likes the sound of her feet pounding on pavement and her breath rushing out of her lungs and not catching or sending her to her knees in a coughing fit. She's still not completely used being the pinnacle of health after spending most of her life almost too sick to function.

But she likes this, her arms swinging and legs pumping and it's almost like chasing Bucky down Broadway after he'd taken her to her first bar and told her he'd be going into the war without her.

She tries not to think about before the serum too often, about the way his eyes would light up when he had to pull her out of fights and would catch one of her boney elbows in the neck for his troubles. She pushes harder instead and doesn't realize where she's headed until she's gasping for breath in the middle of Times Square again.

A woman at the coffee shop a few feet away from her arches an eyebrow and she can imagine why. She's sweating, in dusty sneakers, slightly too large sweat pants and a sweatshirt zipped all the way to her neck.

Her shield is a comforting weight against her back, hidden in the round bag she'd been given when she woke up. She tries to shrug off the sick feeling in her stomach, turns and keeps running.

 

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

 

It's silent out on the balcony save for the sound of their breathing, the hum of the arc reactor in Tony's chest, and the clink of ice in his glass. He's leaning back against the railing, blank expression as he watches the celebration she can't face right now. She frowns at his glass, the flick of his wrist swirling the drink he's been nursing since they stepped out and away from the party. She wants to wrench it from his grip, throw it and watch it shatter against the wall behind her.

Instead she shakes her head, takes it gently from him and finishes it off, winces as whiskey burns its way down her throat and all he does is stare. She hasn't had a drink since that night after... well, since before the ice. Tony is still staring and she doesn't know what to do or how to react beyond the flush creeping across her cheeks and wrapping her arms around her middle.

"Cold?" he asks, head tilted just so, and in the lights Thor had helped Darcy put up around door frames she can make out the splash of silver coming in at his temple, in his beard. _Getting old_ she thinks, and doesn't quite know which of them she means. She shakes her head, but doesn't dislike the feel of him leaning into her side.

There's shouting from inside the mansion making her turn towards them again, Thor's voice carrying over all the others as they count down with ball drop they could be watching in person but opted out of in favor of a night in with the team and close friends.

Pepper is talking to Natasha from her seat on the couch leaning against Coulson, Clint is making kissy faces at Bruce, who's laughing and shoving him away, Natasha has a hand in Darcy's and is actually smiling as they count it down, and Thor is trying to toss Jane in the air in time with his counts.

_Bucky is alive, and god he looks like hell, but he's real and there and she's so happy she can't really help the grin on her face or the way she blushes when his eyes are hot as they travel from her toes to her hair._

_"You look good Rogers." He croaks, his voice still raw and aching. She smiles wider despite it._

_"I'm glad you're okay, Buck," she said. He holds his arms open for her and the metal frame of the small cot creaks under them when she sprawls out on top of him, face nuzzling into the crook of his neck, "I missed you."_

Stephanie can hear Times Square from here, the roar of the crowd a near constant thing now. She nudges her shoulder against Tony's, inhales the subtle spice of his cologne, takes in the arch of his eyebrow, and presses a kiss to his cheek.

"Happy New Year, Tony." she says and when she smiles and he returns it she almost believes them both.

 

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

 

Chasing a mugger through Central Park shouldn't strike her as strange or boring, but there it is.

She'd been on her way back to the mansion from her weekly trip to Starbucks with Darcy when a man in a dark jacket and knit cap ran up and took the bag of a woman walking in front of them. She hadn't even thought about it, just apologized to Darcy over her shoulder as she started running after the man.

One minute she's picking up her pace, having cut through trees to get ahead of the thief and thinking 'Hey, this place looks familiar,' the next, she's on her stomach, her hip and knee hitting hard on the dirt and narrowly avoiding a mouth full of mud.

She groans, rolling onto her back and blinking up into the sun. For a brief moment, she's back to the twig of a girl she was before the serum, hissing in pain while her lungs try to decide whether they'll go out or not. It lasts less than a second, but for that second she could swear she sees Bucky, smiling and shaking his head fondly as he offers her a hand up.

_"Come on Stephanie, we're not going to get caught," Bucky chides, pulls her up and against his chest and it's nice for a second. He let's her catch her breath before pulling her along by the wrist._

_"Not today."_

She's far enough ahead of the thief that all she has to do is administer a quick leg sweep from her spot on the ground as he runs past.

Darcy is waiting for her, standing next to the woman who's purse Stephanie is now holding. They only avoid a photo op because Darcy starts screaming about Thor, pigeons and something she calls 'mew-mew', tugs Stephanie away with a mitten covered hand tight on hers.

"Hey, you okay?" Darcy asks once they're back at the mansion, pulling off scarves and coats and boots.

"Yeah, I am." She answers and is almost surprised it's not a lie.

"Cool," Darcy throws over her shoulder as she heads for the living room, "Saving some lady's purse isn't getting you off the hook either, prepare for cinematic brilliance." She adds in a yell, and Stephanie goes to make popcorn.

She doesn't know about cinematic brilliance, but by the end of the night she, along with Darcy, Jane, and the rest of the Avengers are sprawled around the room, Jane and Darcy humming along as Sandy and Danny drive off into the clouds.

"That's just illogical and structurally unsound..." Tony starts and Stephanie smiles, tossing a piece of popcorn at his head.

"Don't diss Greased Lightening, Tony." Darcy shouts, and he catches the popcorn in his mouth and winks.

 

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

 

She heads down to get Tony out of his lab for a work out, coffee mug in each hand because they've known each other since she came out of the ice and she knows how to win him over this early in the day.

"Jarvis, is Tony awake down here?" She asks as she taps her passcode into the glass beside the door. The room hums as it comes to life and Jarvis' voice comes crisp through the speakers in reply.

"Mr. Stark is still asleep Miss. Rogers, though I don't believe he would be opposed to you waking him."

She murmurs her thanks as she steps across the room. She has to move around parts of the armor she thinks Tony was working on last night. Dummy chirping softly in his corner, there's tools she doesn't know the names for and a boot on the work table Tony is slumped over. She sets the mugs down a safe distance from him before putting a steady hand on his arm and shaking him gently.

The only thing keeping her from a bruised wrist as Tony gasps into consciousness is the super soldier serum, the wild panic in his eyes startling her more than his grip on her arm.

"Tony, it's Stephanie, I brought coffee." She keeps her voice low and what she hopes is reassuring. She runs the hand he doesn't have in a death grip from his temple to his chin, and his expression softens.

"Coffee?" he mumbles and she nods. Her free hand is scratching through his hair at the temple, his hold on her wrist loosening but not letting up.

"Yeah, coffee," she nods towards the steaming mugs and his eyes following the movement are still sleepy-slow. He nuzzles his head against her hand and she hadn't realized she'd stopped, picks up running her fingers through dark hair stippled with silver. He pulls her in against his chest and she's met with a flash of before. _Bucky holding her tight against his chest, calling her pretty when she was a 90 pound wisp and too sick to get out of bed._

She shakes it away when Tony sighs. A sleepy "Too good to me," leaving his lips as he stands and staggers towards caffeine. He's still got a hold on her wrist, she knows she can break it easily. She let's him tug her along anyways, chuckles when he finally let's her go to cradle the larger of the two mugs in his hands.

She's standing close, can smell the grease and sweat and burnt hair and smiles into the scent, bumps her hip against his. Tony's singed eyebrow manages to look prim as he arches it, sipping his coffee

"Gym in twenty." She says and winces at the tone in her voice. They're well past it, but Tony still doesn't take orders well and she holds her breath.

"Be there in twenty-five, gorgeous." He shoots back, grinning when she's startled into a laugh.

-:-

When she and Tony had first met she couldn't look at him without seeing a ghost. And he knew it, must have seen the look on her face and thrown up defences and backpedalled so fast that she had reeled, suddenly just as angry as he looked.

"Big man in a suit, take that away what are you?" She'd growled and though Tony's reply was flippant she remembers his eyes and the edge of panic in them, like a wounded animal in a corner.

Now, almost a year later, they're friends. She thinks Tony is probably her best friend.

Best friend or not, the look on his face when he finally shows up in the gym thirty minutes later and finds her without any of the gear they usually use, is actually hilarious.

"I thought we could work on your hand to hand without the suit," she chuckles and hands the tape she uses on her hands to him.

She's still smiling when they start throwing punches, and Tony laughs, ducks around a jab and pulls her back against his chest. She shoves down and out with her knees, overbalances them and rolls onto her knees out of his grip.

Tony is sprawled out on his back, breathing hard and holding his side. It's stupid; she should get up and help him. But she's stuck, watching the line of his throat as he swallows and the rise and fall of his chest, the blue glow of the arc reactor.

"Gimme a minute Steph," he groans, eyes rolling in his head to look over at her. She nods, crawls to his side and drops down onto her back, bumps his side with her knee. He's not much taller than she is, and most of the extra height is in his hair, especially in the morning.

"Steph?" Tony is watching her like she's another equation for him to sort out, worried lines creasing between his eyes after she's quiet for too long. She shakes her head, gives a thumbs up, not trusting her voice yet.

She goes to roll away at the same time he leans over to try to help her up. They struggle and roll until she winds up straddling Tony's stomach and his eyes are glossy and dark, pupils blown wide. She takes the warmth spreading through her stomach, adds the way she's been watching him for months, the twitch of his lip when he smiles just for her, and comes away with _want_.

"I, Tony-" she fumbles for words and he nods, licks his lips. His thumbs are rubbing circles at her hips and she's panting and hadn't realized it until she's leaning into his space even more. They're breathing the same air as her eyes fall shut.

They kiss once, twice, eleven times and it's amazing and too much and just enough.

 

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

 

She's half asleep, but she can still hear him slip into her room. She rolls to check the time, and is pleased to find it's early, at least for Tony. It's still past midnight.

"Go back to sleep gorgeous, I'm hitting the showers." She hears him saying as she dozes. There'd been fight after fight this week, and she's as exhausted as the rest of the team. If they never see another spider-shaped robot again it will be too soon.

She doesn't mean to fall back asleep, but when she wakes Tony is warm, quietly snoring at her back, his face buried in her hair and his arms holding her around the waist. Sun is coming through the windows high on the wall above them, casting shadows and shining off her shield where it leans against her closet door.

She stretches as well as she can with Tony huffing annoyance in her ear, a leg draping over both of hers as he groans. She's sore, almost everywhere and while a lot of it has to do with being thrown through a giant robot the day before and landing on Thor once she fought free of it, a lot of it isn't.

There's bruises shaped like Tony's fingers on her hips, scratches from the scrape of his facial hair on her thighs, the imprint of his teeth on her stomach, hickeys scattered from knee to neck and she almost regrets that the serum has already faded most of them to a dull yellow-green on her skin.

 

"Nope, no waking up, I can hear you thinking and it's too early for being awake and thinking things. Sleep, tell her Jarvis." Tony mumbles and she can't help but roll over in his arms, press herself down on his chest and smile into their (twelfth, twelve-hundreth, she lost count weeks ago) kiss. The arc reactor digs into her breasts, Tony hums contentedly, and Jarvis says,

"I believe Mr. Stark wants you to sleep Miss Rogers, though one can never be sure."

She chuckles as she rolls onto her back and brings Tony to lie above her. He's still not fully awake, won't be until midway through his third cup of coffee but his eyes are warm on her and he smiles before he kisses her. There's something there that wasn't always, something like _love_ and _safe_ and _happy_ , and she's returning that look in full. She's never had this, the intimacy, the bone liquefying sex, the constant worry, with anyone before, but she's glad it's Tony.

He drops his head onto her chest, wiggles around to get comfortable, leg tangled with hers, tugs her hand towards his head so she can comb her fingers through his hair and sighs as his eyes fall shut.

"Of course, thank you Jarvis." She whispers, presses a kiss into Tony's hair and drifts back to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't exactly know why this wouldn't leave me be but I like it and I hope you do too.
> 
> Title from the song 'Soft shock' by Yeah yeah yeahs


End file.
